Laptop HDD (HP Omnibook XE3)
Discussion
Chaps,
I have an old laptop - a HP Omnibook XE3. I haven't used it for about 9 months, as it stopped working and I was told that the Hard Disk was kaputt.
Now, my brother-in -law needs a laptop and is very short of cash. So I was contemplating replacing the HDD in this machine, as the rest of the machine is fine (and has a good chunk of memory - 1/2Gb).
However, although I have dismantled the machine and found the HDD, how do I know what one to buy to replace it? I have called HP, and they tell me that a HP-branded replacement will be a whopping £213.73+VAT. Given that EBuyer sell a Seagate 40Gb part for about £37, will it fit? (Note - this is listed as a 2.5' Notebook Hard Disk Drive - link here: www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6447523854&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=19)
I have done a good trawl of the internet, but the answer is not easily available. The existing HDD is in a small carrier, but I am not sure whether a new drive would fit straight into this carrier, or whether it would replace the carrier, or what.
Does anyone know? Failing that, can anyone post me a link to a site which gives good detailed pictures and dimensions of standard laptop hard drives so I can make a good guess as to whether one will fit or not.
Many thanks in advance for all help!
Oli.
>>> Edited by zcacogp on Thursday 31st March 16:44
I have an old laptop - a HP Omnibook XE3. I haven't used it for about 9 months, as it stopped working and I was told that the Hard Disk was kaputt.
Now, my brother-in -law needs a laptop and is very short of cash. So I was contemplating replacing the HDD in this machine, as the rest of the machine is fine (and has a good chunk of memory - 1/2Gb).
However, although I have dismantled the machine and found the HDD, how do I know what one to buy to replace it? I have called HP, and they tell me that a HP-branded replacement will be a whopping £213.73+VAT. Given that EBuyer sell a Seagate 40Gb part for about £37, will it fit? (Note - this is listed as a 2.5' Notebook Hard Disk Drive - link here: www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6447523854&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=19)
I have done a good trawl of the internet, but the answer is not easily available. The existing HDD is in a small carrier, but I am not sure whether a new drive would fit straight into this carrier, or whether it would replace the carrier, or what.
Does anyone know? Failing that, can anyone post me a link to a site which gives good detailed pictures and dimensions of standard laptop hard drives so I can make a good guess as to whether one will fit or not.
Many thanks in advance for all help!
Oli.
>>> Edited by zcacogp on Thursday 31st March 16:44
zcacogp said:
Chaps,
I have an old laptop - a HP Omnibook XE3. I haven't used it for about 9 months, as it stopped working and I was told that the Hard Disk was kaputt.
16:44
There's nothing special about the HD in the XE3.
A 40Gb 2.5" notebook drive from Ebuyer (your link doesn't work for me) will be fine. Take the old drive out of the carrier, and replace it with the new one.
I think it's this one:
Seagate ST94011A 40GB 2mb Cache 2.5ins 5400rpm Notebook Drive OEM
that you were talking about. That's fine.
>> Edited by softwaresorcerer on Thursday 31st March 18:51
Chaps,
Thanks for the answers.
That is the question though - does the laptop use anything special? I have the part in front of me, and it looks like a small hard drive. The connecter has two parallel rows of 13 pins on the end (the lower row is missing a pin in position 13), and there is an additional 2x2 block of pins slightly further along. The whole thing is held into a carrier with 4 screws, and it looks very like this picture here: www.laptopshop.co.uk/seagate-momentus_20gb-laptop_hard_drive-2-hd2.htm# (larger image available if you click on the link on the LHS).
If I was to buy one of these, would it work? HP tried to tell me that there was something special about the position of the 4 screws that held it into the carrier, and that justified the vast price they wanted. But for this price, I would improvise with a bit of sellotape (OK, maybe a little more professional) and save myself about £190.
Oli.
Thanks for the answers.
That is the question though - does the laptop use anything special? I have the part in front of me, and it looks like a small hard drive. The connecter has two parallel rows of 13 pins on the end (the lower row is missing a pin in position 13), and there is an additional 2x2 block of pins slightly further along. The whole thing is held into a carrier with 4 screws, and it looks very like this picture here: www.laptopshop.co.uk/seagate-momentus_20gb-laptop_hard_drive-2-hd2.htm# (larger image available if you click on the link on the LHS).
If I was to buy one of these, would it work? HP tried to tell me that there was something special about the position of the 4 screws that held it into the carrier, and that justified the vast price they wanted. But for this price, I would improvise with a bit of sellotape (OK, maybe a little more professional) and save myself about £190.
Oli.
D3ano - thanks. I'm not after anything that big, and a 40Gb one on Ebuyer is only £40-ish (inc VAT).
Next problem. I have powered-up the machine (without the HDD in it), and cannot enter the BIOS as I cannot remember the password. Is this resettable, or is it a case of calling HP?
Oli.
Next problem. I have powered-up the machine (without the HDD in it), and cannot enter the BIOS as I cannot remember the password. Is this resettable, or is it a case of calling HP?
Oli.
zcacogp said:
D3ano - thanks. I'm not after anything that big, and a 40Gb one on Ebuyer is only £40-ish (inc VAT).
Next problem. I have powered-up the machine (without the HDD in it), and cannot enter the BIOS as I cannot remember the password. Is this resettable, or is it a case of calling HP?
Oli.
Usually there is a jumper near the cmos battery, this will allow a reset of the bios software...
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